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Topic: Pond edible plants (Read 914 times)

Can you all suggest bog/pond plants that could survive extreme heat (in the 40C range) most days with occasional drought without dying off?

I already have the edible taro both green stem and red stem types growing slooooowly in a natural pond (more like a huge rainwater puddle actually) and would like to add more plants to take advantage of all that water and nice soil). TIA

I've never tried waterlily and lotus tubers- but it looks interesting thanks for the link! I have also tried Ipomea aquática and sadly a neighbour's geese flock found them very tasty. Every time I replant and they start forming a clump the geese return for another feeding. Never been one to deny foraging animals a source of food so fencing is not an option.

what's the depth? I have a 15x10 meter fish pond at 2 meters deep. Temperature here is 31-38 degrees Celsius all year, sometimes the night temperatures can drop to 28 if a cold rainy front moves in. Basically my place is humid and hot, or dry and hot all year.

for now the royal lotus (edible) and water caltrop are both doing very well. One of the royal lotus plants at the deep end is not getting enough sun, so it's just sitting idle with no new growth.

I also tried to introduce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsilea_crenata -- The seller said just throw it in the pond, it will settle itself... That did not work! I think 1 out of 50 stems survived, not sure how it is doing now. I think this would be best introduced like lotus, a shallow shelf dug out on the side of the pond to get it started, then it will spread itself.

W are hot and dry all summer and the cress does great. You can plant it in the shallow edges of the pond, and as long as some of the roots are in some mud, it will spread. I also ripped some out of the soil and put it into floating baskets with no soil. It did fine at first, but then the koi figured out how to tip the baskets over to eat it. Carolyn

Sorry to hear the goose plague descends upon your Kangkong / Ipomoea aquatica every time it starts getting going. Its a favorite of mine.

As long as there remains water shallowly below the surface (even if the visible pond dries up during drought) you could grow Cattails. The pollen gathered from the male parts in the Spring is enjoyable, can be put into pancakes and be made into fritters, and the "heart" of it down low where the leaves generate from is edible, as are the rhizomes.

Cannas (of the right sorts) have edible young shoots and the rhizomes are starchy and a bit crisp in texture. Could plant them along the borders. Same deal with the water table - as long as it remains accessible to their roots, they're good.

There are a lot of fern species that also like to grow alongside watery places. I haven't intentionally cultivated any of these myself, but that's something to look into potentially.

Elderberry, also! It likes moist soil, and in the right parts of the world can be found growing along rivers, streams, seasonal creeks, etc. It needs to be a bit back and elevated over the nearby water source.

Cannas (of the right sorts) have edible young shoots and the rhizomes are starchy and a bit crisp in texture. Could plant them along the borders. Same deal with the water table - as long as it remains accessible to their roots, they're good.

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Elderberry, also! It likes moist soil, and in the right parts of the world can be found growing along rivers, streams, seasonal creeks, etc. It needs to be a bit back and elevated over the nearby water source.

I never knew Cannas are edible, how do you eat them? What is the right sort? Are you growing Elderberry in Puna? I read they need a chill to fruit, so I passed on purchasing some trees a while back. I figured they were marketed for the north of Thailand, and I'm deep south, weather is much like Puna, only 5-10 degrees hotter during the dry season.